DENTON (UNT), Texas --  Attendees of Fall 2012 Travel-Learn trips, hosted by the University of North Texas Center for Achievement and Lifelong Learning, will tour London to celebrate Charles Dickens’s 200th birthday; see historic sites in Israel including the shores of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights; explore Montalcino, Italy, in the heart of the Brunello wine country; and will enjoy a Grand Danube Passage trip including stops in Austria, Hungary and Serbia.

Don Vann, a retired regent’s professor of English and professor emeritus at UNT, will host attendees of this fall’s London trip. Vann spent his career studying, teaching and writing about the works of novelist Charles Dickens, was named a Dickens Fellow by the London Dickens Fellowship, founded the Denton Dickens Fellowship, and has been invited twice to speak at Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of the author’s death.

“For this London trip, we will see lots of sights associated with Dickens’s life and work, including a trip to Rochester, where Dickens had his last home,” Vann said.

Travel-Learn trips, open to the UNT community and general public, are unique in that a UNT faculty member joins the travel group, offering an educational, cultural and socially enriching experience. Travel groups range from about 15 to 20 people, an ideal size for getting to know each other and developing friendships, said Center for Achievement and Lifelong Learning Director Marilyn Wagner.

Upcoming Travel-Learn trip locations include the Amalfi Coast in Italy from Sept. 12 – 20; Grand Danube Passage from Sept. 20 – Oct. 5; Italian Lakes Como, Maggiore, Orta and Lugano from Sept. 23 – 29; Tuscany from Sept. 30 – Oct. 6; Israel from Oct. 20 – 29; and London from Oct. 20 – 28.  

More information about the Travel-Learn program, Fall 2012 trips and the Center for Achievement and Lifelong Learning can be found at http://call.unt.edu/TravelLearn.